Keepin' Tradition Alive

Growing up, my family always had the tradition of opening up one gift on Christmas eve.  It was kind of like a "holding us over" until the next morning kind of thing.  Of course we got to pick which present we opened (my parents never left out any of the "big" presents until the morning, of course).  For some reason, I always ended up opening up a pair of socks or clothes or something.  Luck of the draw, I guess.

So when Andy and I had our first Christmas together, almost 4 years ago, I wanted to keep that tradition alive.  Andy and I have always been excited this time of year.  We love getting things for eachother.  If we could buy the world for eachother, I think we would.  But we have to show some sort of restraint, right?  Well, we were pretty close that year (to buying a million presents for eachother... it was somewhat excessive, probably).  And we were definitely excited to see eachother's faces opening gifts up.  So I asked him on Christmas eve if he'd like to do what my family does, and open up one present.  Of course he agreed, and you could see the joy in his face. 

So we each opened up our one present (I can't remember what it was, but I know it wasn't socks or clothes!), and I remember being like a little kid again!  We both looked at eachother, like hey, we don't really have anything else to do for the rest of the night, so why don't we open up the rest.  You know, that kind of look.  So we ended up starting our own tradition of opening up gifts with eachother on Christmas eve!

I can't believe we've made it through 4 Christmases with eachother!  Ever since December started this year, Andy has been doing a countdown of "how many days until Christmas" every day I woke up.  He's just like a little kid when it comes to this time of the year!  But I get the same way.  I think most of all, we get to show eachother how much we do listen to eachother, and know what we like. 

And this year was no exception.  Andy pulled through with some great stuff! 

Andy and I have this tradition of giving eachother a new pair of shoes every Christmas, too!

 And my family did too!

My dad made these cutting boards!

And Andy's parents too!

Love this serving set!

A kitchen torch... WAY excited!

We are both really lucky.  I know that I'm thankful for even being able to have a Christmas, because I know there are people out there that can't celebrate because of various reasons.  So I think the best gift of all this year was being able to spend Christmas with so many people that I love, and that love me in return!

Hummus Sandwiches

Andy is the best.  I can't say it enough.  I don't know what I would do without him.

We've made it tradition that we open presents with eachother on Christmas eve.  Our first year together, I explained to him my family's tradition of opening up one present on Christmas eve and we agreed to do so.  After we both opened one present, we looked at eachother and both thought the same thing - "you wanna open another?"  And so we ended up opening all of our presents!  So we've just agreed to open up all of our presents to eachother on Christmas eve and save our family stuff for Christmas Day.

So "Andy Claus" was very generous to me this year!  He got me a 35mm lens for my camera, which I've been ogling FOREVER.  I can't wait to take some bad ass pictures with it!  I also got a camera bag to lug my little baby around!  Way awesome.

On top of that, he got me various dishes from Sur La Table, which definitely will be making appearances on the blog soon enough!  He's just the greatest!

And of course "Peggy Claus" did some good work too!  He's practically got a finished gym in the basement - I added some to it by getting him some more free weights, a curl bar, and a dumb bell rack.  And I think I did a real good job on getting him a digital camera (A Nikon Coolpix S8000).  He really wanted a camera that shot HD video and this does, and it does it very well, so I'm glad he's happy with it!

Anyway, I thought I'd give you guys a quick recipe today and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday!  It's not a Christmas-related recipe, but it's a quick lunch/dinner fix for the upcoming week!  Enjoy your holiday weekend guys!

Ingredients:

Hummus:

15 oz. can chickpeas, drained
1/3 cup tahini paste
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
juice from 2 lemons
juice from 1 lime
1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce
2 teaspoon salt
1 roasted red pepper from a jar


Sandwich:

Cucumber slices
Bean sprouts
Cheddar cheese
Turkey slices (optional)
Wheat bread 
Butter (optional)

In the bowl of a food processor, combine all ingredients for hummus and mix until smooth.  It should be somewhat thick, but still moist.

To assemble sandwiches, butter one side of each bread slice. 

Heat a nonstick pan under medium heat and add one slice of bread, butter side down.  Top with slice of cheddar cheese and cook until cheese is melted and bottom side of bread is browned.  Remove bread and place on plate.  Add remaining slice of bread, butter side down and cook until it is browned, as well.  You can skip this step if you want to, but I want a nice "grilled cheese" effect on my bread.

Top bread slice that has cheese on it with a good amount of the hummus and top with desired sandwich toppings.  I used bean sprouts and cucumber slices.  I added a few slices of turkey onto Andy's (as he wasn't too thrilled about just eating a hummus sandwich).  Place other bread slice on top, cut sandwich in half, and dig on in!

At first, Andy was a little hesitant, stating that he's never really liked hummus.  But I think this went over well, I mean... he ate the whole thing, so it couldn't have been that bad!  Personally, I loved the sandwich and could probably eat it for lunch several days in a row! 

 Again, guys, I hope you have a great holiday and spend it being with the ones you love!  Enjoy!